SANTO DOMINGO - Canada won the gold medal on Wednesday at the Continental Cup beach volleyball tournament with a dramatic 3-2 victory over Cuba while the Canadian women were edged by the Cubans.

Martin Reader of Comox, B.C., and Chaim Schalk of Red Deer, Alta., closed the competition with a fifth set 15-13 win over Yaimel Borrell and Yadrian Escobar. Reader and Schalk won all three matches for Canada

Christian Redmann of Toronto and Ben Saxton of Calgary lost two very close matches in the first and third sets.

The women’s final between Canada and Cuba also went to a fifth set as Ion Canet and Niriam Sinal scored a 15-11 victory over Heather Bansley and Liz Maloney of Toronto.

Bansley and Maloney won the second set to tie the match at 1-1 then Annie Martin of Sherbrooke, Que., and Marie-Andrée Lessard of Ville Lasalle, Que., put Canada ahead 2-1.

Both the Canadian men and women had already clinched their primary goal to qualify for next year’s Continental Cup final Olympic qualifying tournament with a top-four finish here.